Rookie all grain competition help

Grains, malts, hops, yeast, water and other ingredients used to brew. Recipe reviews and suggestions.

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fcsmike
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Rookie all grain competition help

Post by fcsmike »

My brewing club has started a competition, the rules are; take 10 lbs of 2 row malt and brew a clasic style beer, the catch...you must make your own speciality malt from the 10 lbs of original malt.

My problem...I don't know how to make my own specialty malt. I am told that there is an article in a recient Zymurgy issue about it but I don't have it . Does anyone know where i could find info on this?

I was thinking if making a steam lager (seeing how I happen to have that wyeast strain in my fridge) so I wouldn't need a realy dark speciality malt.

Any help or tips would be great.

Thanks, Mike

PS by the way this will be my first all grain too
Fraoch
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Holy Dooley!!!! in at the deep end!

Post by Fraoch »

Malting as well as first mash.this will no doubt give some very interesting results. I have some temperatures and roasting times for a small selection of grains that i hope will help,A word of warning though.I once bought 20kg of what was meant to be pale malt and on getting home i found it was medium grain.As an experiment i made a mash using only this grain, the result was extremely rich and undrinkable, i do not reccomend it!only use part of your grain bill for the speciality malt.my HBS has a group of Nigerians that buy sacks of dark crystal and if it is to be believed they only use this grain to manufacture thier beer.I have serious reservations as to the beer and partly to the story.
Anyway, heres those roasting times etc, all are with pale malt,
Black; roast 2hrs @ 200 - 220c
medium;roast 1 1/2hrs @ 150 - 170c
Thats all i have im afraid apart from wheat and the information is from the adelaide Malting Co., itll give you an indication of roasting times to colour.
Best of luck

Fraoch
BillyBock
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Maybe Skip the Specialty Malts?

Post by BillyBock »

Mike:
You could make yourself and awesome pale ale or IPA with pale malt only. If you want it, I've got a historically correct IPA recipe. Becareful with this one, it was super-hopped, so you'd need to let it cask condition for a few months to simulate the trip to India. BTW, this recipe only uses pale malt.

Good luck to you. Let us know how you fared.

v/r
Bill
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Share the recipe

Post by Gravity Thrills »

Billy,

I play around with what I consider an historically accurate IPA around once a year, my "Rabid Mongoose IPA". I would very much like to see your recipe as a comparison.

I have toned down the hops in the most recent incarnation (~60 IBU down from 75 IBU), because you are right, it takes a few months to take the edge off the hop bite. As I gear up to try this one again in the next coupl of months, I am tempted to do as most folks would and use a modern high AA bittering hop instead of mountains of traditional low AA strain. While I'm sure it would give a great result, the committment to some degree of historic authentic authenticity would be compromised...

Cheers,
Jim
dartedplus
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Smoke Em

Post by dartedplus »

I just made a rauchbier that was fantastic. So if you can get your hands on a smoker, take 4-5 pounds of your grain, wet it down, and put it in the smoker for a couple of hours with some beechwood. Use some hallertau traditional hops (I used 2 oz for 30 minutes) and you are well on your way to making a traditional Bamberg Rauchbier.

Now, of course, I didnt smoke my own malt because I didnt have to. but...hang on a second, let me pull out that BYO issue, OK here it is......

hardwoods are best, you can probably find the chips commercially and then you can use a patio smoker or even a kettle grill. Get your wood started, iif its wet it will smoke more (thats good) amd place your wet grains (not too wet, maybe sprayed with a mister or something) on a metal screen (a window screen would work fine) and place over the smoke, not over the fire. mist them every once in a while as well as use a metal spatula to move the grain around.
5-10 minutes for a mildly smokey flavor and 30 minutes would be the max that you would want to do.
canman
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here ya go

Post by canman »

BillyBock
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Historical IPA Recipe

Post by BillyBock »

This recipe is from Terry Foster's "Pale Ale", Classic Beer Styles #16.

OG=1.070, IBU=200 (no joke)

10.2 lbs, 2-row English Pale malt
4.7 oz, EKG (7.8% AA) (bittering)
1.0 oz, EKG (7.8% AA) (aroma)

Mash pale malt with gypsum-hard water at 153*F, boiled 90 minutes with bittering hops at start, aroma hops at knock-out. Add ale yeast, two weeks in primary, 10 days in secondary, and then bottle with low-level priming sugar (0.5 ounces).

This is a bitter beer! He suggests maturing this at least 6 months in the true spirit of an IPA. One day I'll try this one.

v/r
Bill
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Hella Hops!

Post by Gravity Thrills »

200 IBUs - wow! I thought Mesa was pushing the envelope at 90+ IBUs in his pub's IPA, and I was certain California's Stone Brewing hat set a record with 100+ in their "Ruination IPA".

Is the classic stule book #16 really "Pale Ale"? Terry Foster also wrote volume 1 (among others), already called "pale ale" - maybe 16 is dedicated to IPAs? I've lost track of those books (but I have multiple copies of 4 of the early volumes due to receiving duplicate gifts from beer head friends - barter anybody?)

I do not doubt the authenticity of Dr. Fosters historical recipe, but it is always curious to see how styles have "officially" drifted away from the ur-style over the years. The recipe you posted scores out at less than 70% using the BT calculator and today's style guidelines. Ironically, the massive happing scorese a 0% compliance. The light color from an all pale grist also scores low. Funny how tastes change over the years.

Thanks,
Jim
BillyBock
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The Book

Post by BillyBock »

Yep, it's titled "Pale Ale." It's a revision from his original book, chock full with a lot more stuff--it's pretty thick compared to the rest in the series. And it covers the range of pale ales, including ambers IIRC. It seems the publishers have a new look to their books compared to the old ones.

Which multiple copies do you have? It'd be interesting to keg this recipe up and come back to it 6 months later.
fcsmike
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Thanks!

Post by fcsmike »

I have decided to go with a ESB, Not quite as bitter as the IPA(200 IBU, eeks)and it will mature faster.

Mashing next weekend (15th), I'll let you know how it goes.

Mike
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The dupes

Post by Gravity Thrills »

I have duplicate copies of vol 1 (Pale Ale - Foster), vol 2 (Continental Pilsner - Miller), vol 3 (Lambic - Guilard), and vol 5 (Porter - Foster). All are from the original run with the original cover style, and all are in great shape. I missed a few years of Zymurgy,BYO, AAB, and BT here and there, so if someone wants to cull their magazine archives, or has any other beer-related stuff I don't, let's make a deal!)

Monty Hall
Gravity Thrills
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Et tu?

Post by Gravity Thrills »

Beware the Ides of March!
fcsmike
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No Togas!

Post by fcsmike »

I'll keep an eye out for sharp implements.
subbrewer
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Make crystal malt

Post by subbrewer »

You can make your own crystal malt by mashing in the grain and then spreading it on a cookie sheet and drying it out in an oven, the higher the temperature the darker it will be. Is this what you're asking?
This takes some experimentation, so to do it for your first all-grain brew might be iffy.
Why would your club subject you to this, for your first all-grain brewing? Pretty brutal...
fcsmike
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Strictly voluntary

Post by fcsmike »

What can I say...I like pain and humiliation
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